Cyber Cooking
by Peeet
Summary: 6. When the Doctor treated Ommera to a day out cooking at Cookerama, he had discovered that Cybermen had taken people for 'upgrade'. The Doctor goes back to rescue those people. Things get awkward in the tight confines of a broken lift.
1. Following the Date

1 **Following the Date**.

In the Tardis Control room, the Doctor is thinking about some people abducted by Cybermen.

"You're very pensive just now?" Ommera asks gently. She sometimes sees the Doctor looking like this. Frequently, when pensive, he is regretful. He can't save everyone every time, though he does try to. Then he blames himself, although his adversaries are often totally at fault. They just wouldn't see it that way. They would see the Doctor as getting in their way, never mind how many people perish along their way.

The Doctor had met Ommera when she accidentally wandered into the Tardis on her home planet, Slint, thinking it was a museum (episode 1, _Maintenance Mission_ in this series). Since then she has become his companion. The Doctor has relied heavily on Ommera during some previous adventures.

The Doctor sighs. "Yes," he says. "I'm thinking about some people who I heard were abducted."

"Abducted?" Ommera starts to share his concern. Although she probably never met these people, it's always a tragedy for anyone abducted. "That's not very jolly."

"Not for them, no," the Doctor says. "But I may be able to rescue them. I'm just working out how."

"Let's do it," Ommera says decisively.

"But it will be dangerous," the Doctor warns.

"More dangerous for them if we don't," Ommera says.

"Yes, much." The Doctor gets up. "But I don't want to put you in danger, or Crystelle."

"Count me in," Ommera says at once.

"And me," Crystelle rejoins.

Crystelle's home planet is Tinsel. She is travelling with the Doctor and Ommera having been of comfort to the Doctor in an earlier episode _Step Carefully_ in this series. She would like to rescue people and help them.

"Ok then," the Doctor sighs. He doesn't like to put these two dear folk in any danger, but his life is full of danger. "But, I've been puzzling how to rescue them."

"What do we know about them?" Crystelle asks. "Where did you hear about their abduction?"

The Doctor sighs again. He will have to own up that he has known about this for quite some time, especially that he discovered on the day that he met Ommera and didn't tell her then. But why should he have told her then? Besides, that day was otherwise a really happy day.

"Ok," the Doctor starts off, sighing. "It all started when I took Ommera to Cookerama."

"Ommera told me all about that," Crystelle says. "It sounded wonderful."

"It was wonderful," Ommera agrees. "Best day out ever!"

"While you were cooking I went poking around behind the scenes and I met some workmen."

"You mentioned that one of them accidentally put the popping candy into the pancake mix," Ommera recalls.

Crystelle laughs. "That was so funny."

"That's right," the Doctor continues. "But then I got talking about the grand baking room. They said it had burnt down a few months earlier, so they replaced it with a metal tent, so it couldn't burn down again."

"It was wonderful. So beautifully presented," Ommera recalls. It had been a very special day out. At the end of the day she had almost kissed the Doctor. She still treasures that.

The Doctor continues. "Then some of the workmen seemed to think it had been burned down by metal gentlemen with head torches."

"That's weird," Crystelle says.

"They showed me pictures of their guests that day," the Doctor says. "They were Cybermen."

Crystelle recalls. "You mentioned them before as one of your enemies."

Ommera shudders. "Why are they so bad?"

"They just are. They don't like anyone interfering in their expansionist ways."

"So, how did they abduct people?" Ommera asks.

"They usually offer what they call _upgrades_," the Doctor says. "They must be very alluring because a lot of people fall for it."

"What happens after they abduct people?" Ommera asks.

"They take them for what they call _processing_," the Doctor knows that this is going to get rather dodgy, trying to describe this. He wants to spare them some of the details. "I've rescued people right from in their queues. They really didn't like that!"

"When they, er, _process_ people, what do they do?" Ommera asks.

This is where the Doctor feels he must spare the details. "I don't want to go into the gory stuff."

"Oh, yuk!" Ommera is disgusted.

"I've spoken to many Cybermen who totally regret having their _upgrade_. But by then it's too late. Then they're brainwashed into doing more unspeakable things, including recruiting more Cybermen. _Volunteers_ they sometimes call them."

"How awful!" Ommera groans.

"I've been puzzling how to find these people who the Cybermen abducted. When I was in the gift shop at Cookerama, I noticed the date of their visit when I looked at the pictures of them."

"Why don't we go back to that date, at the beginning of the day and park up in the spaceship park and wait for them to arrive?" Ommera asks.

"Then we can get onto their spaceship," Crystelle suggests.

"It's dangerous to blatantly enter their spaceship on foot, wait until the crew get back and risk never getting back to Cookerama," the Doctor says.

"We can move the Tardis to be on their spaceship?" Crystelle suggests.

"Possibly," the Doctor agrees. "But it's never that easy."

"Sure. Let's do it," Crystelle affirms. She hasn't seen much action but rescuing people who are in danger appears well worth it.

"I'm in," Ommera says. She feels as if she will follow the Doctor anywhere.

The Doctor types in the Cookerama spaceship park co-ordinates, and the date, presses a few buttons and pulls a lever.

The Tardis grinds and the Console monitor shows the Cookerama spaceship park. It is empty.

"Just have to wait now," the Doctor is feeling brighter now.

"It looks like it is very early in the morning," Ommera says. "Just getting light."

"They have shortish days here," the Doctor says. "Only about six hours long."

"So, not long to wait," Ommera says brightly. This will help them feel better about having to wait… "Oh, look. What's that landing now?"

"I can't read the symbols on the outside of their spaceship, but is that an image of a Cyberman?" Crystelle asks.

"Yes," the Doctor says. "Now, I don't want either of you to step outside the Tardis. I want to keep you both safe. Once you step out of the Tardis you are extremely vulnerable. When man first went to the moon, it was dangerous enough inside the lunar lander, but they did need to take extra care when they stepped out. They were extremely vulnerable. If I don't come back, the Tardis is programmed to take you automatically back to your home planets and times."

"I'll never leave you," Ommera affirms passionately.

"Love is blind, but I will also go where you go." Crystelle is more pragmatic. She can see that Ommera loves the Doctor passionately but that she has to sit on this.

"No," the Doctor says sternly. "I want both of you to promise to go home and forget about me."

"I'll never do that," Ommera says vehemently.

The Doctor groans. "I'm sorry. I just want to keep you safe."

"I love you. You know that," Ommera says gently.

"Thank you," the Doctor replies gently. "And I love you too."

Ommera kisses the Doctor briefly. This might be one of the few moments she feels she can express her feelings more openly. The Doctor is adept at avoiding most of the time.

The Doctor steps over to the Tardis Console and presses a few buttons.

"I'll scan for a safe place to land the Tardis on board their ship," the Doctor says.

The Doctor peers at the Console monitor screen. "There. A reasonably small room. They won't miss that."

The Cybermen's spaceship hatch door opens while the Doctor is scanning their ship for a suitable small room to move the Tardis to. The Doctor ignores this and continues scanning.

Then a small ladder lowers from the hatch door to the ground. It is all rather basic for a large spaceship.

"Oh, look! They're disembarking," Ommera points out.

They watch the Cybermen disembarking on the Console monitor. This isn't a haphazard event.

In turn, six Cybermen descend the ladder. A seventh Cyberman appears briefly at the top of the ladder, but purely closes the hatch door.

"They're very regimented," Ommera says.

"So they are. Let's wait until they're all out," the Doctor says. "There must be a problem with their main embarkation hatchway for them to use the step ladder! That may mean they have no engineers on board."

When each Cyberman has completed his descent, he joins a line of Cybermen.

When all six Cybermen are disembarked the line of Cybermen march off towards the Cookerama entrance. The sixth Cyberman had only just set foot on the ground when the others set off marching. The sixth trails behind by a few paces, unable to catch up. It looks comical.

"I'll scan now for how many crew are left in," the Doctor says.

The Doctor scans the Cybermen's spaceship for remnant crew. "Ok. Only two left on board. They're obviously staying put."

The Doctor pulls a lever, the Tardis grinds. The picture on the monitor dissolves from the Cookerama spaceship park to a grey screen.

"Oh. Not a great view," Ommera says. "Can I put Tardis Voice Control on? I've a feeling we might need it."

"Doh. Ok, then." The Doctor yields reluctantly. But he knows that Ommera's judgement has helped them in previous adventures. "That view is just the close-up view inside whatever small room we are in."

Ommera presses the Voice control button on the Tardis Console.

They walk over to the Tardis door and open it.

They are in a lift. The lift doors are very close to the Tardis doors, so close that they can't get access to the lift control buttons. There is a service control panel visible, but it requires a key.

"Let's see if we can get the lift doors open," the Doctor says.

The Doctor wafts his sonic screwdriver around the edges of the doors to open the doors. Sparks fly. The lift doors open.

Beyond the lift doors they see the Cybermen's spaceship bridge.

"This is rather a public place for us to be," Ommera says. "I wonder if we can change what floor we're on?"

* * *

_When will the Cybermen discover the Tardis? Will they recognise the Tardis?_


	2. View from the Bridge

2 **The View from the Bridge**.

Ommera is looking out of the lift. "It looks like the spaceship bridge."

"The Cybermen have the bridge where they issue commands, but there is a separate flight deck where all the navigation is done," the Doctor shares his wisdom. "They may have a significant number of prisoners lined up for upgrade already. Shall we explore? Shall we try to find them?"

"We could find out where the Cybermen are – the Tardis can scan for them," Ommera suggests.

They look at the Tardis Console. Only two Cybermen are left on board. "That one is preparing the _upgrade_ facilities," the Doctor says. "The other, I don't know what he's doing."

They go out of the Tardis onto the Cybermen's bridge. To each side there are pairs of doors, like star-trek doors. These open as they approach. "Very nifty," Ommera says. "Do you think they will notice when a door opens?"

"If one of them is by an operating console, they might," the Doctor says. "But most of them are off-board just now."

They walk through a corridor and they are faced with a choice of which way to go. Busy clunking metallic sounds come from one direction. "Do you think that's the Cyberman preparing the upgrade facility?" Crystelle says.

"Likely," the Doctor says. They go another way.

"How will we find our way back?" Ommera asks. "I don't want to get lost again just because we thought we could find our way back, then couldn't." She recalls getting lost in a cave system on planet Shale with the Doctor (in episode 2 _Lateness_ in this series).

Crystelle recalls the story of Hansel and Gretel. "We could lay a trail of something. But we don't have any breadcrumbs."

None of them are carrying anything appropriate. "I'm wearing some black soled plimsols. I could make a small black mark?" Crystelle concludes. She marks the corridor floor where they entered from. Now they can proceed again.

Along the next corridor there is a door in one wall. The Doctor is inquisitive. He opens the door a little and peers around the door. He steps back. "The other Cyberman is in there," he says.

Ommera would like to see a Cyberman up close, she has only seen one on a monitor screen. She steps into the room. The Cyberman turns around.

* * *

This is a very tense moment. Ommera is in full view of the Cyberman. He is certain to have seen Ommera, yet he makes no aggressive move. The Doctor and Crystelle are unaware of the contact.

Ommera sees that the Cyberman is downcast, even sad. "You're crying," she says. "What's happened?"

The Doctor is startled. Ommera is talking to the Cyberman; and she is being gentle. He whispers to Crystelle. "We should stay out of sight – seeing us might trigger problems!"

The Cyberman tells Ommera that one of the prisoners is her own daughter. She is desperate that her daughter isn't upgraded. "Upgrade is so painful, and it's only one way. I can never go back to being human again."

Ommera is desperately sorry for the Cyber woman. "We will do everything in our power to save your daughter from the upgrade. What are you doing just now?"

The Cyber woman sobs. "I'm making the prisoners their last meal."

Ommera steps forwards and puts her arm around the Cyber woman. This is such bad news for her. Giving her own daughter her last meal.

"But aren't you in line to be upgraded?" the Cyber woman asks.

"No, we're just here to help.

The Cyber woman suddenly seems to have to fight an internal battle. She steps away from Ommera. "I don't want to kill you," she stutters. She starts to raise her arm. Gun nozzles appear near her wrist.

Ommera runs out through the door.

"She's losing the fight to stay with her humanity," the Doctor says as he closes the door hearing the whistle and thud of the Cybermen's armaments bombarding the kitchen wall. "We must run, or she will be out of there in a moment."

The end of the corridor has a more armoured door. A control plate beside the door responds to the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, and the door opens. After they go through, the door closes. "I hope we can get back through," the Doctor says.

There are two cells nearly full of people. The Doctor has seen plenty. "This is where the prisoners are being kept," he says.

Crystelle approaches the bars. One of the prisoners comes across to her. "Are you coming for upgrade, too?" he asks.

"Not if I can help it," Crystelle says. "There's someone preparing a last meal for you just down that corridor. She is crying. Her own daughter is among you awaiting upgrade."

"We're all going off the idea of the upgrade," the man says. "We didn't think it would entail being kept prisoner. Any chance of getting us out?"

"That's what we've come to do," Crystelle says. "But I have no idea how we'll achieve that."

The Doctor wants to go urgently. "Is there another way out of this security area?" he asks.

"No, only that door," the prisoner tells them.

"It's like being totally hemmed in," the Doctor says. "Only one way out and that's past the Cyber woman. She is unlikely to be friendly now."

"We must try," Ommera says. "I'll listen at the door to see if she is just the other side. She might have gone back to her cooking."

Ommera positions her ear against the Cyber spaceship security door and listens. "No sound. Shall we run for it?"

"I think we have to," the Doctor agrees. "They aren't good at shooting at moving targets. Most of them have had no target practice at all." He zaps the door control with his sonic screwdriver. The door opens. The Cyber woman is standing there.

* * *

_How can they get back to the Tardis past the Cyber woman_?

* * *

**The Cyber woman's battle**.

Ommera steps forwards. She holds out her hand towards the Cyber woman. "I quite understand your sadness," she starts off. The gun nozzle is still revealed but is pointing floorward. "Could you let me and my friends help your daughter? We are her only hope."

The Cyber woman stretches. It seems like her way of fighting the internal battle. Then she folds her arms. "Run like the wind!" she instructs them. "I can't withstand this battle much longer."

They run past her and follow the plimsoll scuff marks back to the bridge.

As they retreat into the Tardis the lift doors close. Some life is left in the lift doors.

**Waiting Four Hours**.

They are sitting on the Slint park bench, which the Tardis had enclosed and brought with it some time before (in episode 2, _Lateness_ in this series), and the two plastic chairs.

"Which game shall we play?" the Doctor asks.

"Could we play VibraTile?" Ommera requests. "It's so beautiful."

The Doctor goes to the Tardis Console and retrieves one of their games.

While the Doctor is away at the Tardis Console, Crystelle confides in Ommera quietly. "Ommera, there are times when I really wish I was home."

"Yes, I'm afraid sometimes," Ommera owns quietly. "But the Doctor needs us. You'll be alright."

"It sometimes feels so chancy," Crystelle confides.

"Yes," Ommera agrees. "But he does always seem to win out."

The Doctor returns with the game and they play the game.  
The Doctor opens the box and the pieces jump out and glide across the floor. Pieces turn vibrant blue when the player looks at it; they love it.

* * *

The digital clock on the wall of the Tardis clicks round four hours.

"We should see how they're getting on," Ommera says. She looks at the Tardis Console monitor screen. "They've already set off from Cookerama. Doctor, how will we find out where they're going?"

"Listen at their bridge lift door," the Doctor says.

"But won't we be discovered straight away?" Ommera asks.

"No," the Doctor replies. "My sonic screwdriver put the lift out of action, so they won't find us until they repair it. That may be some time. I doubt they have any in-flight maintenance capability."

The Doctor gets up and goes to the Tardis door and opens it.

"I'm going to prise their lift doors apart slightly and listen," the Doctor says quietly.

Crystelle goes over to the Doctor.

**Lift Space**.

"We must be very quiet," the Doctor whispers. The Doctor prises the lift doors apart slightly with his fingers; the doors won't open much, though. "The bridge is empty. Bother. We spent too much time waiting. They've finished all their conversations that might have helped us."

"Never mind," Crystelle consoles him. "We can still look at the flight controls. They'll tell us where we will be heading."

The Doctor wafts his sonic screwdriver around the edges of the lift doors to open the lift doors more.

The lift doors open again. But then they creak and there is a bang and a small flame erupts from the lift control panel.

"Bother. It's fused," the Doctor says. "No power for the lift doors now."

"I guess we can go out and explore," Crystelle says. She steps out of the lift.

"This is a main lift. It will be noticed," Crystelle says. "Oh. They have already noticed. There's a notice saying the lift is out of order." She steps back into the lift. "I'm going to re-live stepping out onto the moon. There's no-one here. It's quite safe."

**One Small Step onto the Bridge**.

Crystelle steps out of the Tardis to beyond the lift doors, placing her feet slowly and carefully. "One small step for me…"

The lift doors close automatically! Crystelle is on the outside. Totally visible to the Cybermen if they enter the bridge. And nowhere to run or hide.

The Doctor yells from inside the lift. "I can't open the lift doors at all just now. But I'll come and rescue you."

"What happened," Ommera asks. She comes to the Tardis door where the Doctor is.

"Crystelle stepped out of the lift and the lift doors closed," the Doctor says. "Now the lift doors won't open at all."

"There's no-one else around. I'll be ok," Crystelle says. Crystelle is agitated and her fear begins to rise as she looks around for anywhere to hide. There is nowhere.

"Doctor, shall we move the Tardis to be on their bridge?" Ommera suggests.

"Yes, we may need to do that," the Doctor says. "But not just yet. The Tardis will be very visible if it is on their bridge."

A Cyberman enters the bridge from another door. He sees Crystelle and turns to face her.

Crystelle screams.

Ommera is very concerned. "What's happened?" Her voice is very muffled by the lift doors.

"A Cyberman…" Crystelle stammers. She is very scared.

The Cyberman interrupts aggressively. "How did you escape? Which batch are you from?"

"I… only just arrived," Crystelle says. She has no idea what to say, but this seems to satisfy the Cyberman.

"Come with me!" the Cyberman says gruffly.

"Don't resist," the Doctor calls out from inside the lift.

"Who is that?" the Cyberman asks commandingly.

"No-one," Crystelle says squeakily, she can only just manage to speak. "I just like talking to myself."

"I don't believe you," the Cyberman says gruffly.

The Cyberman comes across to Crystelle by the lift and presses the lift button to open the lift door.

Fortunately, when the Doctor opened the door for the second time it fused the door opening capability, then it had just closed automatically. Now, it was stuck.

"The door is jammed. Come with me." The Cyberman takes Crystelle away. She has to go with the Cyberman. They leave the bridge.

* * *

_Where will Crystelle be taken to? Likely to be upgraded! Will the Doctor be able to rescue her before she is upgraded? Will the Doctor be discovered?_


	3. Stuck in the Lift

3 **Stuck in the Lift**.

The Doctor and Ommera are in the Tardis in the Cybermen's spaceship lift.

"Stay here, please, Ommera. I'm going after her," the Doctor says. "Let's wedge the door open so we can get back in."

The Doctor wafts his sonic screwdriver around the edges of the door, but the door has lost all power and won't open.

"Can we try to force it open?" Ommera suggests.

Ommera starts to prise the doors apart with her fingers; it is extremely stiff. The Doctor puts his shoes in the way to prevent the doors from closing and uses his arms to open the doors further.

"I'll grab a chair to wedge it," Ommera says. "Hold on."

"I am," the Doctor pants. Keeping the door open is much harder than it looked.

Ommera comes back a moment later with one of the plastic chairs. She wedges the door partially open with the chair. "We'll just have to climb across."

**Intruder on the Bridge**.

The Cyberman re-appears on the bridge and sees the Doctor in the lift behind the plastic chair. "Who are you?" he demands.

"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor says.

"You aren't upgraded," the Cyberman says. "You aren't a volunteer. You aren't a worker. We don't need a doctor. You - are an intruder! No intrusion is permitted. You will be deleted. Delete. Delete." The Cyberman raises his arm and the gun nozzles appear. It is time that the Doctor moved!

The Doctor races towards one of the doors out of the bridge. The Cyberman starts shooting. One of the places where a communications officer would sit is destroyed by his fire. The Cyberman steps towards the door to cut off the Doctor's escape. The Doctor runs towards the other door out of the bridge. As the Cyberman is still shooting, there is a trail of destruction. Then the Cyberman shoots that exit door. It fails to open when the Doctor approaches it.

"You will be deleted," the Cyberman re-states.

The Doctor runs for the lift doors but is isn't quite as easy to get into the lift as it might have been, with a plastic chair wedged across the doorway. He jumps the chair, but still has to step into the Tardis while being visible to the Cyberman.

The Cyberman shoots the Doctor and he collapses to the floor.

Ommera stifles a scream inside the Tardis but she is out of sight of Cyberman. The Cyberman doesn't see Ommera and strides out again.

Ommera is grief stricken. "What?!"

**The Doctor Dies**.

Ommera pulls the Doctor fully inside the Tardis. She cradles the Doctor in her arms. She sobs. She is alone with the dying Doctor. She gives the Doctor some insubstantial CPR. Then she kisses him on the forehead and sobs.

The Ommera calls out, "Tardis, can we save Crystelle? I need Crystelle."  
Ommera is feeling alone in a hostile environment. Just now she longs for someone to hold her hand.

**Crystelle's Cell**.

Meanwhile, Crystelle has been taken to join the other prisoners in one of the cells. She is talking with the prisoners that she met earlier. There are no seats in the cell, only a floor. Most of the prisoners are sitting on the floor. The further prisoners from the Cookerama day out have joined those already there.

"We thought you were going to rescue us," the prisoner who approached her earlier reproaches her.

"Things don't always go to plan," Crystelle says. What can she say? Could she admit to messing around with a lift door? Maybe not! "Where were you picked up from and what did they say to lure you in?" she asks.

"They offered _upgrades_ whatever they are," the man says. "It sounded great at the time, but I've been talking to some of the others. One girl said her mum was ahead of her in the queue and had been upgraded but the end of their shift came, and she wasn't upgraded. But the screams!..." He can't bring himself to relate what that girl had said.

Crystelle was wishing that she had been listening more intently when Ommera was in the kitchen. She had heard something about the Cyber woman's daughter. But then, if her mum had been upgraded, that might be a torture for the daughter to hear about her own mother's sadness and difficulties.

Having talked to Crystelle and each other, the prisoners now recognise their mistake in accepting upgrade and fully want out.

As the Tardis grinds, announcing its entry to their holding cell, Crystelle perks up. "Wow. My friends have come to rescue me. Anyone else for a trip?" she says brightly.

The people in the cell generally mumble assent. They hadn't expected to be imprisoned, so, even before talking to Crystelle they had changed their minds about upgrade, whatever that might be.

"Thank you, but I can't see how this is _escape_, that's such a small box," the first person says.

"Wait 'til you see what we've got," Crystelle boasts. She feels immense pride in the capabilities of the Tardis.

Crystelle herds the other people into the Tardis and closes the door.

**Passengers in the Tardis**.

Crystelle sees the Doctor.

"What's happened to the Doctor?" Crystelle gasps.

Then it starts to hit Ommera what has happened. "A Cyberman shot him." She sobs.

"What?!" Crystelle is appalled. What will they do now?

Ommera takes a deep breath. Somehow she must cope in this situation. It is nice for her to have Crystelle there, but there are practical things to do. She goes over to the Tardis console. "Tardis; are there others to be rescued?" she asks quietly.

The Tardis grinds and moves to another cell.

Ommera opens the Tardis door, goes out and brings in other bewildered people.

"This is a bit different from Cookerama," the second person says happily.

Ommera hears approaching footsteps. Two cybermen are approaching.

* * *

_What will the Cybermen do when they see the Tardis and Ommera? What will the other released captives do in the Tardis?_


	4. Hide

4 **Hide**.

"Tardis, hide yourself," Ommera says rapidly. There's no time for the Tardis to dematerialise; she needs quick, quiet action.

The Tardis hides itself, only showing the view through the Tardis door where it is open. Ommera closes the Tardis door quietly.

The Cybermen find the cells empty. "How could they escape? It isn't possible." They are astonished.

**Preparing the Doctor for space burial**.

Inside the Tardis Ommera starts preparing the Doctor for a space burial.

There are a lot of people milling round having a good look at the inside of the Tardis. Some sit down on the Slint Park bench. Some start to wander through into the corridors beyond the Tardis control room.

"Crystelle, I want to prepare the Doctor for a space burial," Ommera says. "Could you see to all these people, please?"

"Of course," Crystelle sympathises. She must take care of the rescued people to take all the load off Ommera.

Ommera places the Doctor on a small low trolley on his back. She puts his hands together in a traditional position of prayer.

Meanwhile, Crystelle goes across to the Tardis console where two or three people are poking at the controls. She needs to warn the people off; but doesn't want to alarm them; or tell them what it really is.

"I'm sorry, I should have put up the _Please do not touch_ sign," Crystelle says apologetically.

"But what is it? Most museums have an explanatory notice," the second person says.

Crystelle must fob him off. "It's a rescue station just now, but we have some things yet to do. Please don't touch or we may do something weird."

"Can we destroy the Cybermen's spaceship?" the second person says hopefully.

The Tardis grinds.

Crystelle realises that the Voice Control is on. "Oh, no!" Crystelle groans. She presses the button to turn it off.

A small Cybermen's spaceship flight console has appeared in the Tardis control room. Crystelle approaches it. "Wow. A flight console. What's it doing here? I've never seen one like it let alone flown one. This is totally foreign to me." She had been working towards a qualification as a Spaceship Flight Engineer to be able to fly a spaceship. Ideally, she would be able to fly this thing, but it's different to anything she had seen before.

Crystelle presses an obvious activation button and the console springs to life.

Meanwhile, Ommera has been contemplating what to do next. "I'll just get a shroud for the Doctor."

"You're doing a nice job, but don't rush it," Crystelle says. "What if he's not dead? It would never do to send him out into space when he might recover."

"He has no signs of life," Ommera says firmly. She goes out of the Tardis Control room to get a shroud.

Golden swirls of regeneration energy flow around the Doctor. He revives while Ommera is out of the Control room. He sits up and waggles his fingers. "Wow, what was I doing in that position? That's amazing. Who are all these people? Oi, don't touch anything!"

The Doctor sees Crystelle, gets up and steps over. "What's going on?" he says quietly.

Crystelle isn't fazed as she hasn't checked the Doctor for signs of life, so she just thinks Ommera is over-reacting. Had she checked the Doctor earlier; she might have agreed with Ommera. "We've rescued all these people from the Cybermen. The Tardis has enclosed the Cybermen's spaceship's flight console."

"What were you planning on doing?" the Doctor asks.

"I don't know," Crystelle admits. "I have no idea. We could just leave the spaceship on-course."

"We must challenge them to see if they might change their ways." The Doctor always feels that he must provide some sort of challenge. "They really shouldn't go grabbing as many people as they can and _upgrading_ them to be like Cybermen. People usually totally regret it later. Being a Cyberman is often painful for them. I'll go out and challenge them. Unfortunately, I've never known them to respond positively unless they are personally in difficulty at the instant."

The Doctor opens the Tardis door. He steps out and finds himself in the flight navigation control room. The Tardis is in the middle of the room where the fight navigation console would be, having surrounded the console.

Inside the Tardis Control room, Ommera returns with a shroud for the Doctor. She sees the space where the Doctor had been - empty. She is concerned. She asks Crystelle, "Where's the Doctor?"

"The Doctor's gone out," Crystelle says.

"Where?" Ommera is alarmed.

"Out of the Tardis," Crystelle says. She shrugs her shoulders.

"Thanks for keeping the trolley," Ommera says sadly. "I wanted to say my last goodbyes before he went out."

Crystelle recognises they are talking cross-purposes. "He's gone to challenge the Cybermen," she says softly.

Ommera still doesn't understand. "How can he do that? He's dead."

Crystelle laughs. "No, he's not. He got up and came over to ask what is going on."

"What? Never!" Ommera is startled.

* * *

_What will happen when the Doctor challenges the Cybermen? What will happen to the Cybermen's Navigation Console?_


	5. A Challenge Must be Given

5 **The Challenge Must be Given**.

Meanwhile, in the Cybermen's spaceship Navigation control room, the Doctor examines a few things.

Crystelle pops her head out of the Tardis door. "Do be careful, Doctor."

Ommera steps up and pops her head out of the Tardis door. "Do come back in, Doctor."

"I have to challenge them," the Doctor says. "I can't just let them carry on unchallenged."

"Can't you do it in a safer way?" Ommera asks. "I thought you were dead. The Cybermen just seem to shoot."

"They aren't very relaxed, are they?" the Doctor admits. "They shot me because I didn't fit in with their program. I obviously wasn't a volunteer for upgrade. Anything that gets in their way is eliminated."

The Doctor steps over to a pair of doors which open as he gets close; like the Star-Trek doors.

Beyond the Doctor, through the open door, the Cybermen's small on-board _upgrade_ factory is idle just now, powering up, preparing for their prisoners.

**Delivering the Challenge**.

A Cyberman is standing nearby. He turns towards the Doctor when the Doctor speaks.

"I challenge you to stop what you are doing, or I will stop you," the Doctor says. "Find another way to live without recruiting."

"What are you that you think you can stop us?" the Cyberman derides him.

"Stop now and I will spare you," the Doctor offers. "I am the Doctor."

"Hah. Rubbish! Join us or you will be deleted," the Cyberman says.

"Do you decline my challenge?" the Doctor clarifies his challenge.

"Certainly, we decline! You will be deleted. Delete. Delete," the Cyberman says.

The Cyberman raises his arm revealing the gun nozzles. The Doctor steps away, sensing that the Cyberman means business. But too late. The Cyberman shoots the Doctor. The Doctor falls in the doorway.

Ommera screams. Crystelle darts forwards and rapidly drags the Doctor's body into the Tardis and closes the door with Ommera inside.

**The Doctor dies**.

Ommera cradles the Doctor as he lies dying in her arms. She checks the Doctor's pulse. "No pulse. Not again!" she sobs.

Golden swirls of regeneration energy circle around the Doctor. The Doctor regains consciousness and looks at Ommera. Ommera is overjoyed, but rather annoyed as well. "That's twice in one day you've died in my arms!" she says crossly.

"I'm difficult to kill – two hearts; and I partially regenerated!" the Doctor says, smiling.

Ommera kisses the Doctor. "But one day that will be it! I want you safe." Then she covers the Doctor with kisses.

"That's not how life works," the Doctor says. "Not mine anyway."

"We need to take all these people back to Cookerama," the Doctor says. "But just when should we drop them off? We can't drop them off the same day or the workman at Cookerama wouldn't have commented that there were spacecraft left at the end of the day. Leave it too long and he might have said that the spacecraft had to be disposed of, or that they stayed around for a long time. But he didn't, so we know something might have happened."

"Should we drop them off on the next day?" Crystelle suggests.

"No," the Doctor says. "We must give the staff time to notice that the spacecraft have been left behind. Maybe the day after that?"

"Ok. Good idea," Crystelle says.

"It's rather subjective."

"What if we get it wrong?" Crystelle says.

"At the worst, what the workman said might not alert me enough, so I might not have started on this mission. Can but see."

The Doctor goes across to the Tardis Console. He types in the co-ordinates of the Cookerama spaceship park, and the time – just two days after they last visited. He pulls a lever. The Tardis grinds. The picture on the Console monitor screen starts to dissolve from the Cybermen's spaceship small flight control room to the Cookerama spaceship park.

**The Cybermen's Spaceship Flight Control Room**.

In the Cybermen's spaceship flight control room, the Cyberman is pounding on the Tardis door.

The Tardis starts grinding. He steps away for a moment in surprise. The Tardis departs noisily, grinding. The flight control console stays in the Tardis.

The Cyberman looks down at the absence of the small flight control console. "Where's the flight control console gone to?" He says gormlessly.

THE END

* * *

_Information note: The previous episode_ _in this series__ is called "Double Master Plan"_.

_The next episode_ _in this series__ is called "Daleks in the Tardis"_.

* * *

**Spoilers**.

1\. When the rescued person 2 asks Crystelle if they could destroy the Cybermen's spaceship, the Tardis acted on the Voice Control and positioned itself around the flight console. When the Tardis departed, it left with the console, completing the rescued person's request.

2\. Crystelle could have sent the Cybermen's spaceship, say, into a local sun, but that would have been morally wrong for her to do that, and she isn't like that. Instead, she had no idea what to do, and just left well alone.

3\. This, of itself, wouldn't destroy the Cybermen's spaceship, but it would require that they devise some alternate way to navigate and fly the spaceship. Since Cybermen are all just volunteers for upgrade and tend to be just ordinary people (not spaceship engineers), they would take rather a long time to work out what to do, effectively spoiling their plans.

4\. Nobody in the Tardis had any idea that any problem had been caused for the Cybermen.

5\. The flight control console on the floor of the Tardis Control room would have to be disposed of; probably ejected from the door above a planet where space junk is collected.

* * *

_Information note: The previous episode_ _in this series__ is called "Double Master Plan"_.

_The next episode_ _in this series__ is called "Daleks in the Tardis"_.


End file.
